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1747–1809

SONNET LXVII.

Anna Seward

Cou'd aweful Johnson want poetic ear, Fancy, or judgment?— no! his splendid strain, In prose, or rhyme, confutes that plea.— The pain Which writh'd o'er Garrick's fortunes, shows us clear

Whence all his spleen to GENIUS.— Ill to bear A Friend's renown, that to his own must reign, Compar'd, a Meteor's evanescent train, To Jupiter's fix'd orb, proves that each sneer,

Subtle and fatal to poetic Sense, Did from insidious ENVY meanly flow, Illumed with dazzling hues of eloquence, And Sophist-Wit, that labor to o'er-throw

Th’ awards of AGES, and new laws dispense That lift the mean, and lay the MIGHTY low.

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SONNET LXVII. · Anna Seward · Poetry Cove